Water Resources Planning for the 2S River Basin in Viet Nam

The Se San and Srepok river basins (2S) are the two major tributaries of the Mekong River, both of which originate in the territory of Viet Nam and flow to Cambodia to meet at Stung treng with the Sekong river (originating in Lao PDR) to form the 3S river basin before joining the Mekong mainstream. In the territory of Viet Nam, the 2S river basins are located in the Central Highlands including 5 provinces, arranged by geographical location from north to south namely Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong. This is a region with a very important strategic position in terms of economy, politics and defense for the whole country with many potential advantages for economic development. However, the limited and vulnerable basin water resources are under the pressure of socio-economic development in line with increasing water demands for various sectors. In order to overcome the water management challenges, a long-term water resources planning has conducted to support the 2S River Basin Committee (RBC) in effective planning and operation as part of the WB Mekong-Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Project. This paper introduces the outline and progress of the river basin planning using analytical DSS toolkits to analyze, evaluate and formulate the planning options.